In medical practice today, to measure human body temperature, we use digital thermometers that their external part is mainly made of plastic, with metal tip mostly made of various metal alloys. The usual digital thermometers have a variety of sizes, designs and types, depending on the indicated part of the body to which they come into is contact (armpit, ear, and forehead). In the market are also found thermometers measuring temperature with remote method (non contact, laser thermometer, etc.).
Generally, digital thermometers of all types, consist of the body, the battery cover, that is the removable part through which the thermometer battery is replaced, the power button, that is the key ON-OFF, the display and the tip, which forms the sensor for measuring temperature.
The thermometer, mostly when used in hospitals or other health facilities (e.g. elderly homes) is a carrier of microbes, as firstly it comes into direct contact with the human body and with the body cavities (oral cavity, rectum), secondly it is used by a large number of patients, without compliance with the disinfection rules. 80% of contagious diseases are spread by touch. The pathogens remain viable and infectious, on the surfaces for many hours, days, even months, forming a pool of infections transmitted by touch. Pathogens though, can not survive on the copper surface. Thus, the copper can break the chain of infections transmission and acts complementary to the regular cleaning, for hygiene improvement.
It is now scientifically proven that copper and some of its alloys, have antibacterial and bacteriostatic abilities, meaning, they have the capacity to eliminate or inactivate microbes such as bacteria, fungi (including mold) and viruses, including among others, the resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), the clostridia Clostridium difficile, influenza A (H1N1) and the bacterium Escherichia coli O157: H7.
The pure copper and its alloys that have antimicrobial properties, consist the so-called antimicrobial copper (Antibacterial copper). The antimicrobial copper is safe, long lasting and destroys an extremely high amount of microbes (>99.9%) in a colony, presenting a disruption of their cell's function in several ways. The antimicrobial copper efficacy is extremely rapid (usually within a few minutes to several hours). The rapid death of bacteria will not allow their resistance in growing, since the cells do not have the opportunity to develop a defense mechanism. Less than 0.01% of germs survive on a copper surface after 24 hours exposure.
The antimicrobial copper products maintain antimicrobial properties in long term. Even if these surfaces are carved, the antimicrobial effectiveness continues to exist—not being degraded like other types of processed surfaces. Thus, antimicrobial copper offers a dynamic of significant reduction to the number of inner-hospital infections, both in laboratory and clinical environment, when used on touch surfaces. The use of antimicrobial copper already takes place in hospital and other health facilities abroad, as a touch pad on doorknobs, doors, patient's tables and patient's orostates.
The American Environmental Protection Agency (USA Environmental Protection Agency), has approved the copper registration, in a list that includes all the elements with antimicrobial properties, having officially registered 275 copper alloys as antimicrobial, with positive qualities for public health. To ensure and guarantee the quality of antimicrobial copper products, and their marking as antimicrobial copper products, it is provided an international certification with the mark CU+ (Antimicrobial Copper) by the International Copper Association (International Copper Association (ICA). The International Copper Association determines which alloys are certified as antimicrobials, also the use conditions of antimicrobial copper, in the production (www.copper.org.gr, www.antimicrobialcopper.com). For further details on the properties of antimicrobial copper (antimicrobial copper), its scientific evidence and practical significance, we refer to the International Copper Association (International Copper Association (ICA), the International Copper Association Study (International Copper Study Group (ICSG), the European Copper Institute and finally the Greek Institute Copper Development (E.I.A.CH, www.copper.org.gr).